Digital nomads in Thailand

[DrJack54]

11 minutes ago, jacob29 said:

The OP you quoted made no comment on enforcement, and strongly hinted there is none. So no, he was not incorrect on every level.

Clearly you missed first reply in the thread...

From me.

 

"No problem.

Don't big noise it. "

 

The rest of the 4 pages is wasted space. 

 

[jacob29]

16 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Clearly you missed first reply in the thread...

From me.

No you implied their statement doesn't apply to online work ("the OP was asking about online work"), which is nonsense. It applies to all work carried out within the borders of Thailand online or otherwise, and the 'digital' in digital nomad visa confirms this.

 

For the sake of clarity, since you seem intent on muddying the waters - doing work online inside Thai borders for a foreign company, is considered Thai source income. That is what the OP asked, and that is the answer. Revenue department doesn't seem interested in pursuing it, which has already been clarified.

[SiSePuede419]

On 8/2/2023 at 8:24 AM, Misty said:

And only traveling to Thailand as a tourist to spend the money, and then going back to San Francisco to work?

No, my point was it doesn't matter to all the various Government taxing agencies where you are if you work in California, USA.  You pay taxes in California and USA.  Moving to Nevada or Thailand doesn't change that.  You still owe tax in California and USA.

 

I don't understand why Thailand thinks they have anything to do with this transaction.  Like I mentioned, the work is being done on a private network of servers in San Francisco.  OK, you might be sitting in a Co-working space in Chiang Mai to connect to that network, but you're not getting paid in Thailand in Baht by a Thai corporation, so in my humble opinion you're not working in Thailand, but Thailand is receiving the benefits by providing everything you need to do that work digitally on a world wide web connected to your employers computers. 

 

You're stimulating the local Thai economy. 

 

For example, I just bought a new car made in Thailand with money I saved from working in California. 

 

Does that benefit California or the USA?  No.  It benefits the people and country of Thailand. ✅

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by SiSePuede419

[Misty]

44 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

No, my point was it doesn't matter to all the various Government taxing agencies where you are if you work in California, USA.  You pay taxes in California and USA.  Moving to Nevada or Thailand doesn't change that.  You still owe tax in California and USA.

 

I don't understand why Thailand thinks they have anything to do with this transaction.  Like I mentioned, the work is being done on a private network of servers in San Francisco.  OK, you might be sitting in a Co-working space in Chiang Mai to connect to that network, but you're not getting paid in Thailand in Baht by a Thai corporation, so in my humble opinion you're not working in Thailand, but Thailand is receiving the benefits by providing everything you need to do that work digitally on a world wide web connected to your employers computers. 

 

You're stimulating the local Thai economy. 

 

For example, I just bought a new car made in Thailand with money I saved from working in California. 

 

Does that benefit California or the USA?  No.  It benefits the people and country of Thailand. ✅

 

 

Nope. Moving to Thailand to work does change where you owe income taxes legally. Moving to Nevada would too. 

 

Works the same way in reverse.  Employees of Thai companies who go to work in a US location, say San Francisco, now owe taxes in California for the time they were working in California.  Doesn't matter they are paid by a Thai entity into a Thai bank account.

 

And do you think a "digital nomad" Thai citizen can fly to the US on some type of nonworking visa, start living and working in the US, and claim they don't owe tax?

 

Sure, it's great the Thai digital nomad is stimulating the CA economy. But completely immaterial to the tax issue.

 

 

 

 

[bigt3116]

59 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

OK, you might be sitting in a Co-working space in Chiang Mai to connect to that network, but you're not getting paid in Thailand in Baht by a Thai corporation, so in my humble opinion you're not working in Thailand,

Your "humble opinion" is wrong and also proven wrong in the current labour laws

[jacob29]

10 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

I don't understand why Thailand thinks they have anything to do with this transaction.  Like I mentioned, the work is being done on a private network of servers in San Francisco. 

The work is not being done *by* the servers though, otherwise they wouldn't need the employee in Thailand would they? The work is being carried out by an entity in Thailand.

 

California has the same rules. If you're a US citizen working remotely in California, you pay state taxes regardless of where the employer or servers are located.

[Misty]

13 hours ago, jacob29 said:

California has the same rules. If you're a US citizen working remotely in California, you pay state taxes regardless of where the employer or servers are located.

Non US citizens too.  I know of cases of non US citizen, non green card holders having to pay US federal and state tax when working temporarily at one of their employer's US locations.

[freeman01]

while technically the law is rather clear, actual application/enforcement of the law is what matter. laws that are not enforced are like sentences without meaning ...

 

the kind of work one does matters, like these would be hard to be considered "working" for example :

any kind of entrepreneurial activity or managing your own company without earning a fixed or recurring/monthly salary

"Family business"

writing a book or music

making Youtube video or streaming and such

doing financial investing or trading

learning whatever ....

now the ultimate joker : "consulting" ????

 

as opposed to being an employee with a work contract somewhere with your actual Thai address on it.

same for bank account, if your bank account outside of Thailand has your Thai address then you should be a bit concerned about this.

 

anything that resemble a 9-5 jobs where you have fixed working hours, weekends and holidays then you have to be extra careful, mind who you talked to about it and make up a story to tell people AND friends.

 

also of note, the Thai law clearly state that a Thai resident (>183 days in the country) MUST remit any money earned outside the country when it is earned. There goes the no tax if not remitted into the country thingy that everyone talks about.

 

then again, actual application/enforcement of the law is what matters. laws that are not enforced are like sentences without meaning ...

Edited August 8, 2023 by freeman01

[freeman01]

On 7/31/2023 at 7:50 PM, LS24 said:

Are digital nomads / online consultants deemed to be working in Thailand if all their income is generated in and paid into banks in a country other than Thailand? I'm talking Elite visas, marriage visas or retirement visas. Would anyone foresee a legal issue arising for a digital nomad under those circumstances?

Personally, I would just be careful about what residency address you put on the contracts you signed and the residency address you have declared at the bank that receives all these contracts payments (depending on the bank country and the main currency used), I would avoid using a Thai address just in case.

 

that said, it could be beneficial to pay taxes in Thailand and make it your official tax residency ... depending on your nationality.